Photo: Nuklearna elektrarna Krško
Slovenia is preparing to hold a referendum in two months on the Krško 2 project. Dejan Paravan, CEO of GEN energija, which operates the existing nuclear power plant, supported the initiative by a group of domestic businesspeople to participate in the investment. The government organized the first of two public discussions.
Coinvestment in the project for the second unit of the Krško nuclear power plant makes sense as risk diversification, Chief Executive Officer of GEN energija Dejan Paravan told the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS). The NEK 2 proposal, or JEK 2 in Slovenian, will be put to a referendum.
Paravan said he welcomed an initiative by a group of domestic businesspeople to participate in the investment. Croatia, which holds half of the existing Krško facility through state-owned Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP Group), is also interested, as is the Italian industry, he noted, as quoted by Delo.
The initiative has pointed to signals from the government that the country’s only coal plant, Termoelektrarna Šoštanj (TEŠ), is heading toward closure. The group said a new nuclear plant is essential for the security of electricity supply, alongside renewables.
Paravan estimated that the new facility could be completed in 2040 after seven years of construction. He expressed the belief that Slovenia wouldn’t be able to meet its energy needs from domestic renewables alone. GEN energija operates the Krško nuclear plant.
The country’s energy-intensive companies have highlighted the trend of deindustrialization in Europe and the home market, mostly attributing it to high energy prices.
Fuel makes up only one tenth of electricity costs in nuclear plants
At the first of the two public discussions that the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Energy organized ahead of the plebiscite, Paravan brushed off concerns that Krško 2 could become a stranded investment like TEŠ 6. It is the last unit built in Šoštanj. The price of coal and carbon emissions together account for more than 70% of electricity costs, while in a nuclear power plant fuel has only a 10% share in the expenses, he explained.
Voters will be able to reject NEK 2, but if the proposition is approved, serious work is ahead until a final investment decision can be made, not before 2028, Paravan added at the event in the capital Ljubljana.
NGEN’s Bernard: Key factor are power prices two decades from now
The referendum will be held in two months, Minister Bojan Kumer said. In his view, the construction of a new reactor opens many questions. He highlighted the issues of project costs, production price of electricity, nuclear waste management and spatial planning.
Co-founder and CEO of NGEN Roman Bernard said the key is to forecast the price of electricity 15 to 20 years from now, when NEK 2 comes online. The question is not whether to build NEK 2, but how to do it, he pointed out.
“Technology in the energy sector is developing extremely quickly. Prices of solar systems will drastically decline in the following years. The green transition with the decentralization of the power system and the appearance of energy storage systems is turning the energy industry upside down. The cheapest electricity is one produced where it is consumed, because it does not need a transport route,” Bernard warned.
Installing solar power plants with storage systems lowers required network investments, he stressed. It is realistic to believe that seasonal storage solutions would be developed, the head of NGEN added.
Of note, France’s state-owned energy company EDF and the International Institute of Nuclear Energy I2EN signed memoranda of understanding last week with Slovenian scientific institutions on cooperation in civil nuclear energy use.
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